Direct method of making negatives for use in graphic arts



APrl 2, 1940- c. A. BEATTIE er Ax. 2,195,556

DIRECT METHOD oF MAKING NRGRTIVES FOR USE IN GRAPHIC ARTs Filed sept.14. 1957' Gumm- Patented Apr. 2, 194,0

UNITEDl STATES l OFFICE FOB. USE IN GRAPHIC ARTS Caldwell A. Beattie,Gordon L. Glassford, and William F; Dick, Pontiac, Mich., assignors toA. B. Dickcompany, a corporation of Illinois Application September 14,1937, Serial No. 163,848

11 Claims.

This invention relates to a direct method of making negatives for use inthe graphic arts, and has for one of its objects the production of aprocess whereby complete opaquenesvs of the negative may be obtainedvthrough a process of dyeing.

A further object of this invention is the provision of a process wherebya true image may be successfully converted from a stencil to a negativethrough a process of dyeing.

Another object of this invention is the provision of a process wherebypractically all known kinds of shading may be transferred directly to anegative.

Another object of .this invention is the provision of a method whereby asharp, clear and exact reproduction may be produced in the nature of anegative from which a plate may be mad, an'd a maximum number of copiesmay be run off from the printing plate.

Still another object of this invention is the ability to produce anegative directly without the aid of any photographic process.

Other objects and advantages of this invention ,will appear throughoutthe following specification and claims.

In the drawing:

Figure 1 isa perspective view illustrating the manner of tracing theimage upon the transparent sheet constituting the rst step of themethod;

Figure 2 is a perspective view of the transparent sheet showing the samebeing coated with dye or pigment of a suitable nature, this constitutingthe second step of the process;

Figure 3 is a transverse sectional view through the sheet showing thecoating or dye upon one or both ,faces of the transparent sheet;

Figure 4 is an edge elevation of the negative il- A lustrating onemethodv of` drying or removing moisture from the negative after dyeing;and

Figure 5 is an enlarged fragmentary plan view showing the type ofimpression made upon a sheet in the nature of a line and illustratingthe general appearance of the line or impression made upon and is tracedupon the sheet I0 through the mei dium of a stylus or other impressionmedium, or typewritten words, as indicated by the numeral the sheetwhich is characteristic of the particular type of sheet preferably used,the impression I2, may be impressed upon the sheet. Handwriting, orother transposition methods may be employed without departing from thespirit of the invention. It should be understood that the par that is,converted into a stencil by displacement or removal of the coatingbypressure, heat, so-

lution or in any convenient manner, as through the use of a stylus orother transposition method, as is well-known to the art. It should befurther understood that any suitable type of shading indicated by thenumeral I3, may be employed, which is common in the art by usingdifferent typesof styli, and suitable borders may also be used byemploying different types of plates. Impressions may also be made byhandwriting when desired, and it is not intended to limit this inventionto any particular type of transposition.

After the stencil or transparent sheet .I0 has been prepared with asuitable text, image, or the like, this transparent sheet or mediumI I0is then preferably dyed with a black dye or any suitable dye color, thedye completely coating both surfaces, or one surface, of the sheet I0,the sheet being indicated by the numeral I4 and the wax, cellulose, orother impressible coating by the numeral I5. The coating of dyeindicated by the numerals I6 and Il on the upper and lower facesrespectively will adhere to the body of transparent medium but becauseof the stencilized transposition such as the lines of the image, itsshading, typewritten, or handwritten matter, will constitute perforatedlines IB, preventing the adherence of the dye to the lines andpresenting a clear, sharp picture or reproduction in the nature 4of anegative.

In carrying out the method of'dyeing, the dye may be spread upon thesheet It by means of a brush 2l), as illustrated in Figure 3, or bymeans of a swab. If desired, the sheet may be soaked or immersed in thedye. After the dyeing process has been completed, the excess dye isremoved from the sheet by squeegeeing o1' blotting with a lintlesspaper, such for instance as a newspaper,

or other -suitable type of paper, in a manner as shown in Figure 4. Anysuitable means may be employed for removing the excess dye, in this wayVproviding a uniform opaque background.

. By .following this method, a direct negative is produced, thisnegative may' then be used in the graphic arts in the same manner asother negatives are used, the negative having the ability'to pass lightthrough the image only as needed.

In carrying out the process, it has been found that practically noshrinking of the sheet occurs and any such shrinking would beiniinitesimally small. An image of absolute fidelity so far asreproduction by original drawing or impression is concerned, isprovide'dby thisf'procesaand in fact' an exact copy is provided because of thefact that I www then drying the sheet by squeegeeing, blotting and nointermediary is used. Furthermore, a blackness and opaqueness not as yetever attained in known ycommercial process of making negatives isprovided yby this method.

As a modified method in producing negatives for use inthe graphic artsor for any stencil making process, we may first color the stencil ortransparent sheet with an opaque color before the image is ,impressedthereon by applying a dye or opaque pigment of suitable color to thetransparent sheet as previously described. The 1 image may th'en beimpressed in the same manner in any conventional manner withoutdeparting from the spirit of the invention.

l5 It is furtherdesired to cover the negative as used in any way eventhough it may be used to make photographic or water soluble stencils,and it should be understood that a wax, cellulose or water soluble basetransparent paper may be n used.

In experimenting with this method above described, it has been foundthat not only the opaqueness required for the. purpose intended isattained by the process or dyeing described above,

.25 but that the additional step usually required known as opaquing thenegative is entirely eliminated, and through this method a type ofnegative greatly superior to yknown negatives for producing printing.plates is provided. It has been found 3- further that by using platesproduced from the negative made by the method above described, that manythousand copies may be made from the plate as compared with the usualrun of six to nine hundred copies by the direct plate method in as useat this time. Furthermore, every known kind of shading may betransferred directly to the negative with the possible exception ofsolid black in large areas, which latter would be difficult because ofthe fraiiness of the sheet. The image may 40 be transferred quiterapidly, and in about the same time that an ordinary pencil drawingmight be made. As a result of careful research it isbelieved that theabove method is the best method by which a true image may besuccessfully trans- 46 ferred from a stencil except by photography, andthat by following this method, a plate may be producedwhich may print aclearly defined sharplined image which is not possible through the useof stencil duplicated copies which must usually be 50 printed with athin and oily ink, and upon paper having a high blotting quality. Thismethod provides a very inexpensive method of producing a negative whichmay be used for producing plates and the like, for use in printing suchfor instance as by means of an oilset press, but it should-also beunderstood that the negative may be used for blue-printing, ozalidprinting, photographicA printing, bromide printing, orfor any stencilmaking process, and in fact in any placewhere a 60 negative is desiredfor use in the graphic arts.

It should be understood that certain detail changes may be made in themethod described without departing from the spirit of the invention solong as these changes fall within the scope of i5 the appended claims.

Having described the invention, what we claim as new is:

1. A direct method of making a negative which .consists in firstimprinting subject matter upon a i sheet coated with a pressuredisplaceable nlm, by

any well known transposition method, whereby the subject matter isperforated through the sheet, then dyeing the sheet to provide an opaquebackground for the imprinted subject matter, and

the like with lintless paper, whereby a nonshrinking direct negative maybe produced for use in the graphic arts.

2. A method of making a direct non-shrinking negative for use in thegraphic arts which consists in first tracing an image by means of astylus and the like upon a sheet of transparent paper coated with adisplaceable film, then dyeing the sheet black with black dye bysoaking, immersing, brushing, swabbing, and the like, and then removingexcess dye from the sheet.

3. A method of making a non-shrinking negative for use in graphic artswhich'consists in the v steps of dyeing opaquea transparent stencilsheet and in stenciling an image upon the sheet.

4. A method of making a direct non-shrinking opaque negative, for useinthe graphic arts or any stencil making process, which consists in first,tracing an image by means of a stylus and the like upon a stencil sheet,then dyeing the sheet with black dye or any other color dye, by soaking,immersing, brushing, swabbing and the like,v thus providing an opaquebackground for the image placed upon the sheet, and then removing excessdye from the sheet, whereby a non-shrinking direct negative is produced,without the aid of any photographic process.

5. A direct method of making a non-.shrinking opaque negative, whichconsists in ilrst, dyeing a sheet of type or stylus impressible stencilpaper, of

the character described, with a black dye or any image which consists instencilizing the desired image on a stencil sheet, and then dyeing saidstencil sheet 'to render opaque all portions thereof other thanthe-image.

7. 'I'he method of making a negative of an image which consists informing said image on a transparent sheet coated with a pressuredispiaceable film so as to displace the coating in .areas correspondingto theimage, then dyeing said sheet to render opaque the remainingcoated areas.

8. The method of making a negative' of an image which consists instencilizing the desired image on a type and stylus impressible stencilsheet and then coating the stencil sheet with opaque coloring matter,and then removing said coloring matter from the stencilized portion ofthe sheet.

' 9. The'method of making a negative of an image which consists instencilizing the desired image in the pressure displaceable coating of astencil sheet which is dyed to render it opaque.

10. A direct method of making an opaque negative of a desirdfimage,which consists in iirst saturating a stencil sheet with opaque dye, andthen stencilizing the vdesired image on said stencil sheet.

1l. A negative of a desired image for use in the graphic arts comprisingastencil sheet saturated with opaque dye and stencilized in the areas of

